Christmas Bytes

by Brenna Harbor

  Jayce wasn’t going to tell her that when Martin had first pleaded for his help that he had balked. He was a selfish bastard and he had lived his adult life knowing it full well. It had taken several heated phone calls and final, heart-wrenching plea, that had finally convinced Jayce he needed to help. He wasn’t proud of that.

  “Wow,” she whispered. Her eyes looked glassy. “I had no idea Jayce. I mean, I knew things like that happened. But I’ve always been so far removed from it.”

  “Most people are.” He reached over and grabbed one of her hands across the table. Her fingers were icy and he began to rub them with his own. “And that’s ok. But Lucy, I need you to tell me you understand why I did what I did tonight. I need you to promise me to not report the break in to the bank or the authorities.”

  “But… When this client eventually comes in – not if, when – they will demand to know what happened to the lock box and why things out of it are missing!”

  “Trust me, he won’t.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “Think about it, if he confronts the bank, they will have to report that to the police. This guy and the group he’s with will avoid getting the cops involved at all costs,” he told her. Confident in his answer. Scum were scum and they avoided the law at all costs… He should know.

  Lucy was so pure. Morally speaking. He hadn’t known her long but he understood that she was a person that stood up, without hesitation, for what was right and just. It disturbed him that he felt guilt over trying to manipulate her sympathy to his favor. He usually had no qualms over doing things of this nature, had done so on multiple occasions to his advantage.

  But with Lucinda… Well he had other things to worry about right now.

  Lucinda

  “You know,” she started. “I have no way to know if what your telling me is the truth or a crock of shit.” She swallowed a hard gulp of coffee, forcing it down. “But, in the spirit of Christmas, or maybe just because I’m that dumb, I’m choosing to believe you.”

  There. She’d said it.

  Lucy really didn’t want to turn him in. She didn’t want to believe that the only man (the only man in a long, long time) to make her body and heart feel this way was a completely heartless, lying criminal.

  She hadn’t opened up emotionally, much less physically, to anyone in a long time. Not since before leaving her job as a dom. The events that had caused her to leave being a dom had led her to shut off many facets to herself – something she was regretting deeply – and to run and hide herself away into a life that did not truly feel like hers.

  I’ve let that bastard win.

  “You're not dumb Lucinda,” he said fiercely as he grabbed one of her hands again. “You are beautiful, smart and compassionate. And a whole lot of other things. But not dumb. I’m really glad you chose to hear me out.”

  She nodded tightly, a lump in her throat. Not really wanted to unleash the dam she’d built within herself over the last few months in front of Jayce (and in public), she cleared her throat and swiped the moisture from her cheeks.

  “I think that, if it takes me looking away from this ... incident …could save the lives of some children, then it's something I can’t really disregard. Even if it is somehow linked back to me. That I could have reported the break in and didn’t. If it costs me my job... Even so, I can’t ruin the only chance these kids may have to get rescued. Who knows what they’re going through even now?”

  Jayce paid the tab (her purse still back at his apartment) and they left, arm in arm, from the diner.

  The walk back was different. It was still silent, each lost in their own thoughts, but companionable. And it was comfortable, at least to her. She had never felt so at ease, so soon, in another person’s company.

  In the elevator up to his floor, Jayce leaned against the far back wall, eyes hooded as he looked her over. The heat of his stare made her flush and she could feel the quickening of her pulse at the raw desire she could feel coming from him.

  He didn’t touch her, but instead kept his hands chastely in the pockets of his hoodie. It dawned on her that he was waiting for her. Whether it was a signal or a verbal command, but he was waiting for her to lead and start this... Whatever this was.

  This guy sooo had sub tendencies.

  She let a mask of confidence slide over her features and schooled them to a cool disinterest. On the inside she was quaking. Nervous didn’t even begin to cover it. She was nervous because she hadn’t done this in so long. Nervous because she hadn’t been in a position of control over someone else in so long. Just in control of herself, her isolated existence, and the walls she had built up around herself since leaving her job as a high-rate dominatrix.

  The frantic and hot passion that had overcome them earlier this evening had left them mindless and without much reserve. They had lost themselves in one another, in the comfort of being strangers. It was all different now. Lucinda now knew Jayce a little better. She’d had a glimpse into his past, and now, his present. An insight into what made him the man he was now. He seemed to be trusting her to take the lead and to guide them into this... whatever this was.

  She exhaled for control. “Kiss me,” she demanded, trying not to let her voice shake. “Put your hands on my waist and kiss me.”

  Jayce’s eyes flared, the ghost of the grin on his face vanishing. He rushed forward, halting a few inches from her, hands hovering on either side of her hips. Lucy could see that his pupils had dilated. A muscle in his jaw jumped. At her slight nod, his fingers gripped into her hips and pulled her forward. His lean physique toward over her. Especially because she was wearing his over-sized house shoes instead of her heels.

  Lips meeting, so gently at first, she raised her hands and held onto his shoulders. A thrum of excitement coursed through her and a little noise escaped her. His mouth slanted over hers, deepening the kiss. He turned their bodies so that his back pressed up against the cold metal of the elevator, still clutching her body to his.

  His tongue licked just inside of her mouth, setting a maddening rhythm. Kneading his shoulders like a kitten, she silently demanded more. She returned a few strokes from her tongue, getting ready to fist a hand in his hair, and –.

  The elevator door dinged, announcing they’d arrived to his floor. She pulled her mouth away and looked to make sure they didn’t have an audience. Jayce continued to nibble along her jaw.

  “Stop,” she let an edge creep into her voice. He pulled his upper body back but held onto her waist still. “I’m not trying to provide a show for any nosy neighbors that may be lurking. Let’s take this back to your place.” She pushed gently, but firmly, against his chest and he let her go completely.

  He hadn’t listened to her fast enough… She’d have to fix that.

  Back in his apartment, Jayce tried to pull her into his arms again as soon as the door was shut. She nimbly sidestepped him and instead went to the couch. Making herself comfortable, she tucked her legs beneath her and spread her arms along the back of the couch.

  “I’ve told you I’m not turning you in to the police Jayce,” she didn’t want to mince around here and got straight to the point. The night was soon to be over. She paused to watch him and gauge his response.

  The lust cleared from his eyes but his expression gave away little else. “What happened here, before the diner, that was fun. But if we had sex and had a good because you wanted to make me amenable to your case, well, consider it done. I’m not calling cops.”

  His eye narrowed on hers. “Why do I feel that I'm getting a brush off.”

  “I’m not brushing you off,” she said crisply. “Just letting you know you don’t have to do this. But if we do...”

  She let the suggestion linger.

  He ignored that. “What do you mean by ‘this’?”

  “Sex.” Lucy said, gesturing between them, almost exasperated she had to spell it out. “You don’t have to try and convince me with anymore sex. Earlier was great. It was more than great
,” she added hastily at the look of incredulity on his face. “I mean, it broke my dry spell and I am definitely not regretting that. But I like to usually do things in the bedroom that are, as you would expect, unconventional to some.”

  Lucy was trying to get Jayce to verbalize that he wanted to try things her way. To let her lead and dominate and show him what it was all about. She wanted – needed – him to tell her that he wanted to do this and claim ownership of all the possibilities.

  People tended to believe that the dom usually had all the control in a relationship. That the power balance was skewed to in their favor. The truth was that the dom was only as powerful and the sub allowed them to be. The permission and the giving of trust was where the true power lay.

  He studied her silently, expression still guarded. He glanced at the clock on the mantle. It was four in the morning.

  “You never told me why you stopped.”

  Her heart clenched.

  “Stopped what?”

  “Being a dominatrix,” he said softly. “You never told me why you stopped doing it. If you didn’t want to do it anymore, if you were no longer into it, that’s one thing. By the way you talked about it, you seemed to miss it. And you seem to want it, whatever satisfaction you got out of it, back.”

  “I don –,” she stopped short and blew out a breath. She was about to negate the whole thing, shut him out. It was time she started opening up again. “I stopped being a dominatrix because I let some asshole intimidate me. I got scared and I quit. I thought it wasn’t worth doing something that I loved if it meant I had to live scared. Constantly watching my back… I hate that someone could threaten and scare me that way.”

  “What happened?”

  Lucy didn’t want to divulge the story now. She didn’t want to let him know that, not only had she been a proud dominatrix, she had once held seminars and lectures about the role of female empowerment in relationships. That one her students had taken her advice to heart and had decided to leave an abusive marriage. She didn’t want to tell him that the husband of that former student had blamed her, had held her gunpoint and had beat her.

  She had managed to escape him when he was distracted. Had ran down the road, disheveled and bleeding, to get help. He had been arrested and, last she heard, sat in prison serving his sentence for crimes against her and his now ex-wife.

  That story, she would share at a later time. Maybe... If not with Jayce, then with someone else, when she was ready.

  “That’s not important,” she said softly, sidestepping his question. “What matters is what we do with the rest of tonight.”

  “I’ve never been with a woman like you before.”

  “You mean a dominatrix? Or a bitch?”

  Jayce gave a gently laugh, lips quirking, and shook his head.

  “It’s alright,” she gave a shrug. She could feel the corners of her own lips tugging to smirk. “I know that I can be a bitch. And there’s no way I would have gone through a kidnapping without putting up a fight. Even for someone as handsome as you.”

  He smiled ruefully at her. “No, that’s not what I meant. I’ve never spent time with another woman that was so direct and... powerful. Not physically, but your strong character and your spirit are extremely intoxicating.”

  He came to stand before her on the couch. He hesitated a moment before slowly lowering himself onto his knees before her.

  Lucy watched him keenly. She knew that there a warning in her eyes as he lifted a hand and made to place it on her thigh. He must have picked up on something from her face because he lowered it back down to his side without touching her.

  “It’s never really crossed my mind to not be in control. Of anything. I’ve been in charge of myself since I was fourteen. And I have never been with anyone long enough to let go. Ever. But I want to try it, Lucy. With you... With what's left of tonight.”

  Jayce

  Lucy sat up straighter on the couch and untucked her legs elegantly.

  Well, as elegantly as one could wearing over-sized sweats. She still managed to do it with an almost unnatural grace. It was like watching a tiger come up from a crouch. Or a flower unfurling. Everything this woman had done during their shared evening was done with poise and finesse. Even when she had fought with him viciously to free herself during the kidnapping.

  There was a glimmer in her eyes and he could feel that something had shifted between them. The balance of power? Jayce swallowed hard, anticipation making him shiver on the inside.

  “Are you sure about what you’re asking?” She asked intently. All traces of teasing and joking gone. “It’s not a game. Many people will play pretend at it, especially with the popularity of it in the main stream in recent years... But giving your trust into my care, even for what’s left of the night, is nothing to take lightly. At least I don’t take it lightly and neither should you.”

  “I am a hundred percent sure.” He tried to sound steady and firm, but he was pretty sure he was practically panting. She was going to make him beg for it... and it was completely hot. “I want this. And I want it with you.”

  She leaned toward him and laid a soft, cool palm against the heated skin of his cheek. He let his eyes flutter closed and nuzzled into her touch, craving it, needing it to abate the heat that was building and plucking its way through him.

  “Do I need to call you Mistress?” He kissed her palm while looking into her diamond eyes. “Are there rules to follow or a safe word we need to agree on?”

  “Not necessary.” She tempered the comment with a gentle smile to let him know she wasn’t mocking him. ‘With the time we have, we should just explore and see what feels right to the both of us.”

  “Then what makes this different than just another night of pleasure?”

  “The difference is that you will be following my lead. The only rules we should stick to tonight are these: That you heed any commands of mine that you feel comfortable with. If they make you uncomfortable then you should not do it; That you let yourself be open; And lastly that your ultimate goal is not to satisfy yourself, but to satisfy me.”

  There it was. The challenge in her voice and in her gaze. He understood what she was trying to say. He could imagine that many men entertained the thought that they wanted to be dominated by a female, or to at least pretend at it as she had said before. Once they were actually in the bedroom with a strong female, they would treat the act as a game and disregard the rules set out before them in pursuit of their own pleasures.

  But not him. Jayce knew his selfish little heart well enough to know that he really wanted this. He wanted to escape who he was, even if just for one night, and just serve for another purpose. Serve Lucy. He had spent a lifetime of serving himself.

  Her small white hand was still up and he reached up, slowly, to clasp it between his much larger ones. The tan of his skin emphasized the luminous pallor of hers. Like day and night. The sun enraptured before the gentle beauty and strength of the moon.

  “I want nothing more than to satisfy you tonight,” He kissed the tips of her fingers, not daring to do more just yet. His first impulse had been to pull her down onto the floor with him and drag her beneath his body.

  It was what his past conquests would have expected of him. Hell, it was what he would have expected of himself, never having considered other avenues of exploring pleasure.

  “Please Lucy, let me show you how much. I am yours tonight. I will obey you.” To be this eager for something he had never known he had wanted was insane. He knew it was. But he didn’t care. Tonight was the only chance he would have to explore these feelings and desires. The only chance to explore them with someone as incredible as Lucy was.

  A seraphic smile curled the corners of her full lips but her eyes darkened with something fiercer.

  “Stand up.”

  Jayce stood slowly on legs that were sturdier than he had expected. If he wasn’t so aroused, he would probably have had the sense to be embarrassed at his own eagerness. Lucy continued
to look him over, still perched on the edge of the sofa, as he tried not to fidget before her. He didn’t know what would happen next. The knowledge of that disconcerted him, but he was more than a bit thrilled with anticipation.

  “Take your clothes off starting with your shirt.” Her face was impassive but the fierceness in her eyes was still there.

  Not being a person to have ever been vestal about his body, Jayce was not hesitant to strip his shirt off. He was not chiseled like the brawny models on the covers of romance novels. But his chosen occupation was more physically laborious one than most people would think and he knew his body was lean and strong.

  His hesitation came when he reached for the waistband of his sweatpants. They were loose fitting and already a sizable bulge could be seen. After a second, he hooked his thumbs in the band of his briefs and pulled them down along with the pants. His cock sprang free and he felt a pulsing throb run through him.

  Lucy watched it, watched him, and under her gaze he grew harder and longer. He loved knowing that she was studying him with eyes nearly black with her desire. Leaning close, she wrapped a soft, sure hand around the base of his length. She hefted the weight of his balls with the other and watched his face intently for his reaction.

  He clenched his jaw and let out a hiss at her cool touch. Not sure what to do with his hands, they flexed at his sides as she began to stroke him up and down. Quickly, he was getting worked into a lather by her expert hand. He reached his own hands up, about to place them onto her head to guide her luscious lips down to his throbbing co –.

  “No,” she growled out softly, but firmly. “Put those hands back down until I tell you how to use them.”

  He uttered a response back, but it was guttural and incomprehensible. His hands shot back down and were balled into fists at his sides. He could feel his throat convulsing as he worked his resolve to not shame himself and come so soon. But it was a challenge… He was so turned on, both by her skilled hands and her command, that he’d had to fight the bubbling rise of cum from spilling.